Description

The Category Manager is where you can view existing Categories in a table layout. Click the Category names to edit the existing categories or click the 'New' Toolbar button to create new ones. All articles in Joomla! are organized into Categories and Subcategories. Subcategories are the second level of organization underneath Categories. The special Category 'Uncategorized' is category created with the Joomla! installation and built into Joomla!.

Screenshot

Column Headers

In the table containing Categories, these are the different columns as shown below.

Ordering. Up-Down Arrows User specified ordering, default is order of item creation. When active, drag and drop ordering by 'click and hold' on the bars icon then 'release' in desired position.

Checkbox. Check this box to select one or more items. To select all items, check the box in the column heading. After one or more boxes are checked, click a toolbar button to take an action on the selected item or items. Many toolbar actions, such as Publish and Unpublish, can work with multiple items. Others, such as Edit, only work on one item at a time. If multiple items are checked and you press Edit, the first item will be opened for editing.

Status. Status of Category, Published or Unpublished are shown with icons as follows:

Published category.

Unpublished category.

Title. The name of the item. For a Menu Item, the Title will display in the Menu. For an Article or Category, the Title may optionally be displayed on the web page. This entry is required. You can open the item for editing by clicking on the Title.

Access. The viewing level access for this item.

Language. Item language.

ID. This is a unique identification number for this item assigned automatically by Joomla!. It is used to identify the item internally, and you cannot change this number. When creating a new item, this field displays 0 until you save the new entry, at which point a new ID is assigned to it.

Column Filters

Above the column headers on the right, there are 3 drop down input fields, Sort Table by: (preset to Ordering), Select the ordering (preset to Ascending) and a number (preset to 20) to display.

These column sorting input fields shows the current method of sorting applied to the table. Use the drop down field choices and click the column heading name. Alternatively, click on the column heading to sort the list by that column's value. This will also change the value in the drop field to correspond with the column header name. The list will then be sorted in order by that column and a sort icon(up or down arrow) will show next to the column name. Click a second time to reverse the sort, which will change the corresponding drop field.

Ordering (default). The column in which to sort displayed items in the table. The values are the same as the column heading names.

# (default is 20). Shows the number of items to display on one page, default is 20 items. If there are more items than this number, you can use the page navigation buttons located at the bottom of the table. (Start, Prev, Next, End, and page numbers) to navigate between pages.

Batch Process

The Batch Process allows a change in settings for a group of selected items marked with a check-mark in the corresponding check-mark boxes. To use: click on the link found below the table of items being viewed to activate the drop down field area. Using the 'Batch' Toolbar button will open a pop up window as shown below.

You can change one value or all three values at one time.

Note - if you copy items to a new category, changes you have selected from access level and language will be applied to the copies, not the original.

How to Batch Process a group of items:

Select one or more items on the list by checking the desired category check boxes.

Click the 'Batch' Toolbar button.

Set one or more of the following values:

To change the Access Levels, select the desired new access level from the Set Access Level list box.

To change the Language, select the desired language from the Set Language list box.

To change the Category, select a category. To leave the category unchanged, use the default value of "Select".

To copy the items to a different category, select the desired category from the category list box and check the Copy option. In this case, the original items are unchanged and the copies are assigned to the new category and, if selected, the new access level and language.

To move the items to a different category, select the desired category from the category list box and check the Move option. In this case, the original items will be moved to a new category and, if selected, be assigned the new access level and language.

When all of the settings are entered, click on Process to perform the changes. A message "Batch process completed successfully." will show.

Note that nothing will happen if you (a) don't have any items selected or (b) have not selected an access level, language, or category.

If you wish to clear your entered selections, click on the Cancel button. This will return all of the Batch controls to their default values. Note that this does not uncheck the check boxes for the items.

Toolbar

At the top left you will see the toolbar:

The functions are:

New. Opens the editing screen to create a new content category.

Edit. Opens the editing screen for the selected content category. If more than one content category is selected (where applicable), only the first content category will be opened. The editing screen can also be opened by clicking on the Title or Name of the content category.

Publish. Makes the selected content categories available to visitors to your website.

Archive. Changes the status of the selected content categories to indicate that they are archived. Archived content categories can be moved back to the published or unpublished state by selecting "Archived" in the Select Status filter and changing the status of the content categories to Published or Unpublished as preferred.

Check In. Checks-in the selected content categories. Works with one or multiple content categories selected.

Trash. Changes the status of the selected content categories to indicate that they are trashed. Trashed content categories can still be recovered by selecting "Trashed" in the Select Status filter and changing the status of the content categories to Published or Unpublished as preferred. To permanently delete trashed content categories, select "Trashed" in the Select Status filter, select the content categories to be permanently deleted, then click the Empty Trash toolbar icon.

Batch. Batch processes the selected content categories. Works with one or multiple content categories selected.

Rebuild. Reconstructs and refreshes the content category table. Normally, you do not need to rebuild this table. This function is provided in case the data in the table becomes corrupted.

Options. Opens the Options window where settings such as default parameters can be edited.

Help. Opens this help screen.

List Filters

The List Filters, above on the left, and other filters as detailed below are in the left, bottom sidebar. These filters are a series of controls that let you limit what items show in the manager screen. More than one filter may be entered. In this case, only items that meet all of the filter conditions will show on the list.

Filter by Partial Title or ID. In the upper left is a filter or search field and two buttons, as shown below.

To filter by partial title, enter part of the title and click Search.

To filter by ID number, enter "id:xx", where "xx" is the ID number (for example, "id:9").

Click X to clear the Filter field and restore the list to its unfiltered state.

Filter by Max Levels (Category Level). Lets you show only items whose category is at or above the specified level in the category hierarchy.

- Select Max Levels -: Show all items regardless of level of their assigned category.

1: Only show items whose category is at the top level in the category hierarchy (in other words, with categories whose parent category is "- No Parent -".)

2-10: Only show items whose category is in the top 2-10 levels in the category hierarchy.

Filter by Published Status. Lets you show only items with the selected published status.

- Select Status -: Shows items that are Published and Unpublished. Does not show items that are Trashed or Archived.

Published: Shows only items that are Published.

Unpublished: Shows only items that are Unpublished.

Archived: Shows only items that are Archived.

Trashed: Shows only items that are Trashed. Important Note:To permanently delete items:

Change the status of the items to Trashed.

Change the Status filter to Trashed. At this point the trashed items will show and an icon called "Empty trash" will show in the toolbar.

Select the desired trashed items and click on "Empty Trash" in the toolbar. The items will be permanently deleted.

All: Shows all items regardless of published status.

Filter by Viewing Access Level. Lets you show only items that have a specified viewing access level. The list box will show the access levels defined for your site, similar to the example below.

- Select Access -: Show items with any viewing access level.

<access level group>: Show items only with this viewing access level.

Filter by Language. Lets you show only items that have a specific language assigned. The list box will show the languages defined for your site, similar to the example below.

- Select Language - or All: Show items for any language.

<your language>: Show items only for this language.

Page Controls. When the number of items is more than one page, you will see a page control bar as shown below. The current page number being viewed is shaded.

Start: Click to go to the first page.

Prev: Click to go to the previous page.

Page numbers: Click to go to the desired page.

Next: Click to go to the next page.

End: Click to go to the last page.

Quick Tips

Click on the Title of a Category to edit it.

Click on the green check mark or the red X in the Published column to toggle between Published and Unpublished.

Click on the Column Headers to sort the Categories by that column. Click a second time to sort descending (Z to A).